Sailing Mile Builder – Balearics – Portugal – Tenerife
experience the open sea - Join a sailing mile builder
the ultimate Sailing mile builder
Join us on an open sea sailing trip. This is an experience for the ones who want to spend several days and nights on a sailboat sailing constantly, keeping watches, learning how to sail, navigate the boat and stare at the open blue waters.
This trip is divided in two legs: 1. Balearics to Portugal and 2. Portugal to Tenerife. Each leg is 10 nights / 11 days long. You are welcome to join only one or both. Each leg is calculated in such a way that we are able to reach the end destination in less than half the time scheduled for it. This leaves time for exploring and relaxing. In other words it should take about 4-5 days of sailing from Balearics to Portugal (ca 600NM) and about 4-5 more days from Portugal to Tenerife (ca. 800NM). In the latter trip we can expect semi-trade winds which makes us expect to cover larger distance in the same time.
Once on the sea, we set sail, monitor the weather, cook, eat, rest, play, and that is pretty much it. Sometimes there will be a dolphin passing by, sometimes a squid will jump on deck, there will be sunsets, stars, sunrises, food and all that divided into watch system. On such a passage organisation and discipline is very important. As usual, the crew (you) will sail the boat and the skipper will have the overview. The crew will be divided into 3 watches: on watch (sailing duties), off watch (cooking, cleaning) and resting watch (yes, your task will be to rest). There will be time for talks, reading books or simply staring at the ocean in silence. For the majority of the passage we will be outside of range of mobile communication but we will have a satellite tracker and sat-phone for an unlikely case of emergencies.
Note! If you have never sailed, that is not the trip to start with. You need to have spent at least one week on a sailboat. This ensures you know what it means to be on a small sailboat with other people for more than one day and have an idea of what a boat life can be.
what to expect from such a sailing adventure ?
Learn hands-on: the first leg is 600NM, the second one is 800NM. That is 5x or 7x more than we usually do on a one week sailing holiday in the Med. This means plenty of hands-on experience. Plenty of helm-time and a few night passages in a row with an experienced skipper. There is a Gennaker on board and you will get tips about free apps to study lights, buoys, sounds, rights of way… You will learn heaps in a very short time.
Daily routine: on such a passage things are organised. Everyone has a shift schedule and duties divided generally into sailing, resting, and household chores (like cooking, cleaning, tea-making, cookies fetching, etc…). That rhythm brings ease and peace. Everyone does their part.
Transformative experience: for a few days in a row, mobile phone range will not be there and people will be close. Expect time off screen, with yourself and for yourself. Add a daily routine, something to learn, a fear to face, supportive crew and the skipper, and you have a perfect mix for change to happen. If you have a thing to ponder upon or on the contrary: forget about, this is it.
“Balearics – Portugal” & “Portugal – Tenerife” Routes
Includes:
⛵ 10 nights sailing adventure,
☸️ professional skipper,
🏨 bed linen, towels, end cleaning,
🏄 SUP board and dinghy,
🔒 trustful damage deposit,
💎 travel insurance.
Excludes:
💰 cashbox contribution ca. 180 € pp (food, port fees, fuel),
✈️ flights/transfers.
Departures:
Palma de Mallorca for “Balearics – Portugal”
Faro for “Portugal – Tenerife”
Nearest Airports:
Palma de Mallorca (PMI) or Faro (FAO).
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Talk To Us*
*To sail at other dates; to organize a private trip; to get in touch.
Highlights of Sailing Mile Builder
What you can expect to do on this route.
Touching land again
After a few days on the sea you will experience things on land more intensely
Swim in the middle of the ocean
Will you dare to jump out of the boat in the middle of big blue?
Sunsets on the open sea
Every evening and every morning the spectacle of nature awaits
Wildlife encounters
A migratory bird resting on our boat, a whale passing by, a turtle saying hello… dolphins are guarateed.
Visit unique places
We will sail through very unique waters.
Itinerary for Sailing Balearics – Portugal – Tenerife
We are true to the discoverers` spirit and plan our adventures accordingly to the winds, the weather and your wishes. This means the order as well as some of stopovers may be different than presented below. Leave planning at home! The plan showed below is only an indicative itinerary and your trip may differ. Only the mad men sail against the wind!
sailing trip, Leg 1.: Balearics – Portugal
That is the Mediterranean leg of the passage. Landing in Palma you meet us in the main Palma marina (easy arrival) and provision the boat. After the technical take over of the boat, we sail to Formontera for a day or two to get to know the boat, each other and to swim a bit in the turquoise waters of that beautiful island. We may need to wait for the proper weather window to leave, as we do not want to meet any storm and want to cross the Gibraltar straight with easterly winds. Once all is checked and the forecast fits, we lift the anchor, hoist the sails and take the leap. We are off!
We are going to sail south of the Spanish mainland in the middle of a very busy trade channel. Cargo ships will be something to have a lookout for. You will learn how to recognize light markings of other ships at night, maintain the course of the boat, and take important decisions (i.e. when to wake the skipper up or not ;)). If the weather is not great of if we have plenty of time, we can visit cities along the coast: Cartagena, Almeria, Malaga, Cadiz, or any small village in southern spain that you always wanted to visit. We are open for suggestions!
Depending on our fuel consumption and schedule we may make a stopover in Gibraltar (super cheap fuel, tasty beer). Crossing of the Gibraltar straight needs to be done with a proper tide (water flowing OUT of the Mediterranean sea) and easterly wind. Once we pass that straight we are out on the Atlantic ocean!
The last part of the trip is the “holiday” part of exploring the home of the local skipper Federico: the Algarve. Freddy will take us to swim into the caves, catch and cook clams, visit fishermen villages on the sandy islands (yes, there are islands in Algarve! I was surprised too!). If all goes well, we will have 2-3 nights to spend sailing along the coast, exploring and rewarding ourselves with an ice-cold drinks.
Formontera
Algarve
sailing trip, Leg 2.: Portugal – Tenerife
As in the first leg, we will have a day or two of getting the new crew used to the boat and each other. In Faro we re-provision the boat and sail out to explore the coast of Algarve. Here, as well as in the first leg of the trip, we will have to wait for the proper weather window. The difference starts once we are sailing south and leave Portugal behind.
We are on the Atlantic ocean, the wave sets are longer and bigger. The wind is steadier. When Algarve lies behind us, we have a decision to make: are we heading directly to Tenerife or does the weather window allow for a stopover in Madeira and Porto Santo?
Hopefully, the weather gods will be on our side and after leaving the Portuguese coast, we arrive to Madeira within 4 days. Maybe we even manage to visit Porto Santo island? Would be great. After Madeira (if that happens) we should arrive to Tenerife in less than 2 days.
This will be almost like trade winds sailing, constant, stable and pleasant downwind sail with a gennaker. The days will be filled with deep blue ocean and us on a smaill sailboat in the middle of it all.
Tenerife is a beautiful and multi-faceted island. It is a good idea to stay a few days and explore the island!